There is an ongoing problem at every masonry job site for every building: at the end of the work day or before a rain storm, covering up masonry walls to prevent water from getting into the cores of the block which will potentially cause freezing and cracking of the masonry walls. Currently, plastic sheeting such as 6 mil poly is being used. The roll plastic is cut into strips and is simply secured by laying a loose concrete masonry unit (cmu) on the plastic. It is a cheap material and an accepted practice. However, in today's marketplace, labor costs are high, and furthermore, sheet plastic is not the perfect solution.
By specification, the sheet plastic is supposed to be draped 24″ on each side of the cmu wall. This creates an umbrella effect when the wind blows, sometimes even lifting a 60 lb. block of the wall. The plastic rips and tears and blows off the walls and then becomes a cleanup issue, especially where projecting rebar or conduit has to penetrate the plastic. As can be imagined, it is an ongoing battle to keep walls covered.
What normally takes a complete masonry crew (blocklayers and laborers) ten to fifteen minutes each day could now be accomplished, using the present invention, with a couple of laborers, and at the same time providing better protection and allowing the blocklayers to continue working during that time; thus, a cost savings plus yielding more production. Thus, with the continuous wall protector disclosed herein, two low-cost laborers could do a better job in much less time. Plus, the wall protector system of this invention is more effective, is reusable and could be easily stored, still secure the cap with loose blocks, but would eliminate the umbrella effect. This would be a more rigid system and due to its snug fit, it would not need to extend over the walls 24″ like sheet plastic. Moreover, puddling on top of the plastic would be eliminated.
According to the invention, a U-shaped wall cap or channel having wall gripping legs and spaced punchouts with pull tabs protect the newly laid wall. Because the side panel members or legs effectively “hug” the upper wall sides, the effects of wind forces, tending to lift the device from a newly laid wall, are significantly diminished or eliminated. Since the wall cap extends over many block joints, it serves as temporary reinforcement for the topmost blocks. The legs are springy and angled inwardly so they grip the newly laid wall. The wall cap has punchouts with pull tabs at periodic intervals to accommodate wall reinforcing rebars and thereby, at the same time, enhance the maintenance of the device on the wall. The rebar punchouts can be a series of star-burst score lines which are relatively easy to punch through.
In addition to protecting the masonry, another issue to consider is cold weather. Masonry cannot be laid below certain temperatures, and these temperatures must be maintained or be rising for a period of time, which is determined by that day's working temperature. Cold weather masonry is a schedule-buster and can potentially shut jobs down. The temperature may be within range during the day, but drops into the night. This prevents any walls to be laid without enclosures or other expensive means. In the past, builders ran an electric wire with pigtails and 100 watt light bulbs dropped down in the cores and covered with plastic to heat the walls during the night to avoid freezing and project shutdowns.
According to a feature of the invention, inside the wall caps disclosed herein are optionally provided with an insulating material (NFPA approved/UL rated) with a continuous electrical feed is provided. Plug and socket structures similar to that of some canister vacuum sweepers with extension attachments with male plug and female socket ends. Incorporating pigtail drops to install 100 wall bulbs evenly spaced to cmu core increments (8″, 16″, 24″, etc. and metric equivalents). Guards can be provided to protect the bulbs similar to a trouble light. Obviously, this system would have limited use as the temperature drops but would prove very beneficial in a given temperature median.
The preferably resilient plastic materials used in making the fresh masonry wall protector disclosed herein are relatively inexpensive and may be readily molded, extruded, vacuum-formed, thermoformed, etc.
Thus, the object of the invention is to provide a fresh masonry wall protector which is easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and which can be reused time and time again.
Further objects of the invention include:
The provision of a fresh masonry protection device for rapidly protecting a newly laid block or brick wall from inclement weather comprising: an extruded channel member having a top panel member and a pair of parallel sideband members. The top panel member has a smooth, flat inner face which is adapted to engage the topmost surface of said newly laid block or brick wall. The parallel side panel members being springy and angled inwardly so that they engage the newly laid block or brick wall with sufficient force so as to prevent wind forces from lifting the temporary wall cap off of the wall and yet it is easily removable when work on the wall is resumed. The top panel member has scored punchouts or frangible portions for rebar at predetermined intervals along the length of the top panel member.
The fresh masonry protection device as described above wherein the top panel member optionally includes a pair of electrical wires for supplying electrical energy to heating elements or light bulbs at spaced intervals along the length of the freshly laid wall.
The fresh masonry wall protection device described above wherein the top panel member is wider than the width of the newly laid block or brick wall and the side panels are angled inwardly to snuggly fit the upper side edges of said newly laid block or brick wall but is easily removable for storage and reuse at the end of a workday. In a preferred embodiment, the lower edge of the side panels deflect or curve outwardly, thereby forming an application guideway, facilitating the application of the device to a wall and at the same time, the lower edge forms a water deflector or gutter.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method for rapidly protecting a newly laid block or brick wall from inclement weather comprising: (a) providing an extruded channel member having a top panel member and a pair of parallel side panel members, the top panel member having a smooth, flat inner face which is adapted to engage the topmost surface of a newly laid block or brick wall, the parallel side panel members being resilient, springy and angled inwardly so that they simultaneously engage the newly laid block or brick wall when in place on the wall and have angled ends forming a guideway for receiving the top of the newly laid block or brick wall, (b) engaging the sides of the wall adjacent the top with one end of the guideway and expanding the distance between the engaging side panel members by the width of the wall and (c) then pivoting the channel member about the point of engagement of the side panel members with the wall in a generally downward direction to seat one end of the channel member on the wall, and essentially align the channel member with the wall, and (d) then seating the remainder of the channel member on the top of the wall by progressively pressing downwardly on the top panel member beginning at the one end.